Top 20 The Beatles Songs
So this is just my Top 10 rankings, made to the Top 20 to accommodate my once-a-week posting schedule.
The Beatles are one of the greatest and most acclaimed bands ever, and this makes ranking their songs a little different compared to other rankings. I might not feel for them the way I feel for TVXQ, Nightwish, or other acts, but what I enjoy from them is already influenced by what is acclaimed. With SHINee, I could hear almost all their songs without any major bias, but with The Beatles, there already is presupposed bias. Due to what is popular, I have heard Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band many more times than Please Please Me. Nonetheless, I will do my best to focus on what I feel is The Beatles' best, in our already biased world.
I will focus on all songs released by The Beatles, excluding any solo efforts by the members after the band's split.
Finally, a small note for the final closing track from Abbey Road, Her Majesty. It is fantastic, but at twenty-six seconds, it is a little too short for this list.
Honorable Mentions
Can't Buy Me Love
Come Together
Don't Let Me Down
Glass Onion
I Want You (She's So Heavy)
Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da
Penny Lane
When I'm Sixty Four
20. Blackbird (1968)
Whether as an anthem for survival, civil rights, or rising and doing the best you can, McCartney's Blackbird has a level of timelessness provided by a phenomenal melody, and a great theme guiding it.
19. Twist And Shout (1961)
The earliest song on this list, Twist And Shout's simplicity masks the fact that the song is a quintessential example of rock and roll, with John Lennon ripping through the entire song, almost forecasting hard rock's rise.
18. Octopus Garden (1969)
Ringo Starr might be best known as the ""fourth Beatle," but his skills as a drummer and songwriter could come in clutch at times. Octopus Garden is his artistic peak, intrinsically linked to the band's backdoored chaos. It is his Here Comes The Sun, and while not nearly as good, it still is amazing.
17. Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds (1967)
Perhaps best known these days for its alleged drug references and being the root of the name of the famed Australopithecus Lucy, Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds is really one of The Beatles' more interesting compositions, with tambura melodies and a killed chorus.
16. Here, There and Everywhere (1966)
As far as ballads go, Here, There and Everywhere is one of the fab four's best, merging their improved skills as songwriters with a simplicity in execution that is hard to match. There is a reason this song is a favorite of many famed musicians, including Art Garfunkel and Brian Wilson. It does so much with so little.
15. I Want To Hold Your Hand (1963)
Easily the most iconic of the group's early material, I Want To Hold Your Hand has barely avoided oversaturation, and that comes from the fact that the song has a melody that is worth its weight in gold, especially with the pre-chorus hook.
14. Help! (1965)
The last major pop single released by The Beatles before their turn to the more experimental, Help! is a simple song, but its vocal harmonies add a little bit of charm, and the song finds a melody that is an early example of timeless pop.
13. Hey Jude (1968)
A song of healing given by Paul McCartney to John Lennon's son upon his parent's divorce, Hey Jude has become a general song of healing. Whenever that iconic chorus comes, it is hard not to pause and just take it all in.
12. Eleanor Rigby (1966)
It is hard to overstate just how different Eleanor Rigby sounded from anything near it at the time of mainstream '60s pop. The depressing tale of Eleanor Rigby and Father Mackenzie were a straight look at the face of loneliness and depression. At the same time, the orchestral production was a sign of things to come for the band.
11. Yesterday (1965)
Yesterday might be one of the first Beatles songs to show the artistic achievement that made the group so famed. Paul McCartney simply took a guitar and an epiphany-created melody, and the end result is a song unmatched in its beauty.
10. All My Loving (1963)
The best of the early, boy band-esque material of the fab four. All My Loving might not have any of the experimental finesse that made their Rubber Soul and later records so great, but the simple melody might be one of the most timeless pieces of '60s rock ever. It is hard not to love the sentiment.
9. Love You To (1966)
While The Beatles had better Indian-inspired songs before and after Love You To, it is hard not to consider it the turning point for the band, at a moment where their Indic and psychedelic influences tipped the scales. For this alone it deserves a legacy greater than what it currently has.
8. A Day In The Life (1967)
Arguably The Beatles' most iconic and acclaimed track, A Day In The Life is very much the avant-garde magnificence it promises. From the moment where the chords rise with the line "No one really knew if he was from the House of Lords" to the mid-song choir-led break to the ending chord, hearing A Day In The Life for the first time is an experiencing unequaled.
7. Norwegian Wood [The Bird Has Flown] (1965)
John Lennon leads this winding melody, creating one of The Beatles' earliest Indic-influenced classics. George Harrison's sitar over a Lennon-McCartney melody is something that we needed more of.
6. Within You Without You (1967)
As one acquainted with Hindustani classical music, Within You Without You sounds a little simplistic for how deep the genre can go, but its authenticity is hardly doubted. Additionally, the lyrics are The Beatles' very best, paired with a second half of the song with many classic moments.
5. Let It Be (1970)
A tone of acceptance, Let It Be was destined to be the song that closed the book on the world's most iconic musical group. Paul McCartney's emotional vocals and composition sink through as he states, "There will be an answer, let it be," ending the saga of The Beatles.
4. While My Guitar Gently Weeps (1968)
A hymn to the chaos in the world, while at the same time hoping for universal peace, While My Guitar Gently Weeps features one of The Beatles' best guitar solos, letting George Harrison prove himself as a songwriter and as a guitarist in his full glory. From its ever-iconic opening, a song for the ages rises.
3. Here Comes The Sun (1969)
An ode to hope, Here Comes The Sun is one of The Beatles' last true classics. You can almost here George Harrison sitting down with his guitar, penning this number for better times he hoped were coming. While Let It Be would come soon after, Here Comes The Sun's beautiful strummed melodies are the farewell for the fab four for me.
2. Strawberry Fields Forever (1967)
One of the most acclaimed Beatles tracks, and Lennon-McCartney at their peak, Strawberry Fields Forever pulls out all the tricks that make The Beatles the band that they were. The swarmandal in the back helps create an atmosphere, which is played on by the various and vast cornucopia of instrumentation, headed by soaring strings and a wild brass barrage.
The greatest trick of Strawberry Fields Forever is how it merges complex instrumentation with several different takes into one recording to create a song that is both eery and inexplicable elements. Strawberry Fields is a fever dream, and one unlike any other.
1. Something (1969)
While McCartney-Lennon are known as The Beatles' premier songwriters, George Harrison brought style, experimentation, and emotive expression through his compositions. Something was his magnum opus and a tour-de-force of pop writing. Most of the song is a slow-burn ballad, relying on the melodic voice of George Harrison to carry the melody of the song through and through.
Something only has one chorus, and that chorus is only repeated once. But that chorus, that chorus is one of the greatest moments in music ever. The ascending melody paired with elongated and plucked strings culminates in a joyous refrain of "I don't know," one of the best refrains ever.
It is harder to write about Something than other Beatles songs since it relies on so little. There are no Hindustani flourishes, no experimental tape-breaking productions, and nothing to differentiate it from any other song. It relies only on the composition skills of George Harrison, and that was more than enough.
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